Giblets

I know this post will make some of you grab your heads and scream epithets at me…. But how often do you use the giblets when roasting a chicken. We are roasting one tonight and I threw them out…. Partly because I don’t know what to do then really.

Thoughts/ideas???

Usually, you just chop them up and add them to the gravy. But, if you're in the mood for it, the liver and the heart can be prepared in tasty ways. I'd ignore the rest.

If they're decently sized I'll throw them in a gallon ziploc bag in the freezer, to which I later add the rest of the chicken carcass. Then once a year I make demi-glace with all of it. About time, I may do that this weekend.

I give them to the dog next door.

Freeze the liver for either making boudin (dirty rice) or perhaps pâté once a year.

"Save the liver!" immediately brought to my mind Dan Aykroyd's Julia Child sketch from Saturday Night Live.

-Paul W.

I usually fry the liver right away after sweating minced shallot in butter seasoned with a hint of garlic and thyme, salt and pepper then deglazed with some Marsala. Just the right size for serving on toast for a snack. Not fond of frozen chicken livers so prefer to use it up quick.
I save all stomachs, hearts and wing tips in a bag in the freezer. Collect a bunch and with a carcass make soup.
I always try to make use of everything but I happen to love the flavor of heart and stomach after its totally tenderized by long cooking. As such they also contribute to a wonderful ragu for polenta or pasta.

[Jenise]

I give them to my brother for his fresh dog food. (Don't hear any gasps, yet, John!)

Memory from childhood: I was standing in the kitchen of the house next door; I think the lady next door was looking after me while my mother went off to do something or other. There was a saucepan boiling away furiously on the stovetop. Lady-next-door explained that she was cooking the giblets from a freshly-slaughtered fowl because her husband liked them better than the fowl itself.

[Jenise]

Matilda, not dissimilar: I have a friend who won't eat foie gras or dark meat turkey because it's so gamey but who considers the fried liver from their Thanksgiving turkey a treat. Does not compute.

We have an embarrassment of options here.- coyotes, eagles, crows, racoons, salmon......

[Jenise]

Yesterday I heard a famous chef, when asked about whether they liked liver, answer that he basically isn't "comfortable eating any of the parts that used to have jobs." Made me laugh!

any of the parts that used to have jobs

If we think about it, all the parts used to have jobs. Eg, moving the bird around, helping it to flap its wings, and so on. I think he means parts that used to have janitorial functions.

[Jenise]

Organs, not muscle, IOW. That's what I understood.